Data streaming mechanism in a microprocessor

This invention provides a dual usage cache reload buffer (CRB) to hold both demand loads as well as prefetch loads. A new form of a data cache block touch (DCBT) instruction specifies which level of the cache hierarchy to prefetch data into. A first asynchronous form of a DCBT instruction is issued to prefetch a stream of data into a Lcache. A second synchronous form of a DCBT instruction is used to prefetch data from the Lcache to the CRB in the main CPU, which will bypass the Ldata cache and forward data directly to the register file. This CRB has a dual usage and is used to hold both normal cache reloads as well as the aforementioned prefetched cache lines.